Tennessee city seeks tunnel expansion funds

27 September 2011

The City of Chattanooga, Tennessee, is planning an upgrade to the Wilcox Tunnel, which would construct a new, two-lane eastbound tunnel and retrofit the existing one-lane westbound tunnel.

The USD 42M project relies on up to USD 25M being secured in a federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) III grant. The City Council approved a resolution on September 13 to authorise the mayor’s application of the grant, and to provide another USD 17M in funds.

Earlier this year, the city awarded an engineering contract to Halcrow for considering whether it should continue to maintain the existing Wilcox tunnel or build a new one.